Patent GB-637021-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in a buckle applying machine
IPC: A41H37/08
Filed: 1947-08-27
Abstract: 637,021. Buckle-attaching machines. INTERNATIONAL CELLUCOTTON PRODUCTS CO. Aug. 27 1947, No. 23755. Convention date, April 13, 1939. [Class 43] A machine for attaching buckles to straps or the like includes a magazine from which buckles with central cross-bars are guided to a position where a reciprocating plunger acts on the cross-bar of a buckle to bend it open so that the strap can be inserted after which a second reciprocating plunger in alignment with the first bends back the cross-bar. Buckles shaped like flattened eights, Fig. 6, and having their central cross-bars split or deeply scored are strung on a strip 40, the whole being inserted in a magazine, after which the strip is removed. The magazine comprises an elongated body 19, Fig. 1, the base 21 of which is accurately positioned, by means of dowel pins, on a U-shaped frame 23 secured to the bed plate 25 of the machine. The buckles, pressed down in the magazine by the weight of a rod 33, are prevented from dropping out by the inwardly-projecting edges of two opposed plates secured to the base 21. The magazine is locked in position by a bifurcated spring clip 37, Fig. 8, secured to a rotatable shaft 39, which extends between the sides of the U-shaped frame 41 of the buckle-closing mechanism and which ends in a crank 43, Fig. 1, engaged by a pivoted latch 45; after releasing the latch 45 and turning the shaft 39 anticlockwise the magazine may be removed for refilling. A horizontally reciprocating feed plunger 47, which is normally held retracted by two spring 81 and is slidable in a guideway 49 formed by the upstanding sides of the frame 23, has at its end a notch 85, which, in the retracted position of the plunger lies beneath the magazine in alignment with the lowermost buckle, so that when the plunger is moved forward said buckle is carried forward, through a guideway 87 in the magazine base 21 and a connecting guideway formed by slots 87a in two opposed plates 89, 91 mounted on the frame 23, to the working position, where it is held with its long sides in engagement with the slots 87a, by the guide plate 91 which is pivoted to the frame 23 and is spring-urged towards the plate 89. The plunger 47 is moved forward by pressure on a knee pad 57 provided on a lever 55, which is indirectly linked to the cross-head 79 of the plunger. At the end of the feeding operation the lever 55 is released, whereupon the springs 81 restore the plunger 47 and associated feeding mechanism to their original positions. The two halves of the split or scored central bar of the positioned buckle are pushed apart by the wedge-shaped upper end 100 of a vertically reciprocating plunger 99, which is urged by a spring 105 into its retracted position and is guided in a member 101 secured to the bed plate 25 ; the plunger 99 is operated by a treadle 109 through links 111, 112, 113, the link 111 being so connected to the treadle through an adjustable collar 116 that only anticlockwise movement of the treadle will raise the plunger. A looped strap is now slipped into the open buckle, a vertically movable latch or stop 114 guided in the member 101 having automatically closed the ends of the slots 87a to retain the buckle in position ; when the buckle-opening plunger 99 is raised, a head 117 screwed on the lower end of the stop 114 is engaged by a head 107 keyed to the lower end of said plunger so that the stop is raised to its buckle-retaining position where it is held frictionally by strings 119 housed in slots in the stop. The buckle is reclosed by the wedge-shaped end 123 of a vertically reciprocating plunger 121, supported in alignment with the opening plunger 99 by the U-shaped frame 41, upward movement of the plunger under the influence of a spring 127 being limited by an adjustable collar 129. The plunger 121 is operated by the treadle 109 through links 131, 133, the link 131 being so connected to the treadle through an adjustable collar 137 that only clockwise movement of the treadle will lower the plunger. As the plunger 121 moves down an extension 139 of the adjustable collar 129 restores the stop 114 to its normal position. The arrangement is such that all the parts of the machine are automatically returned to their normal positions after each operation. By providing the central bars of the buckles with serrated edges the use of a clip for preventing the end of the strap from being drawn through the buckle may be dispensed with.